Yamaha PX-2/PX-3 accessory weight

Dr. Ear

Super Member
I got my PX-2 today. Again it is in a great shape, just a small 2-3mm mark on the front right corner. It worked as advertised. Anyway, I decided to clean and lubricate the main bearing, check the solder connections and recap the arm control board. I could see that one of the 1000µF caps had been replaced already so I decided to replace them all.
I mounted a Dynavector 20X2 on a Yamamoto HS1A headshell and unfortunately discovered that this combination is too heavy without the accessory weights (whichI do not have). I cannot close the dustcover because it will hit the adjustment knob of the counterweight.

->> Does anybody have an esthetically perfect idea how to make the counterweight heavier?
 
Hello Dr .Ear

PX2 and PX3 tone arms are not the same at all . (same for PX1 too) .

Accessories are different too . A counterweight of PX2 do not fit the PX3 tone arm rear tube !

I will contact you later because I am working on this matter . Do not hesitate to contact me again if my answer is long to come

:thmbsp:
 
The counterweights of these two TT's look absolutely identical. I have them in my hands right now. The two lateral screw holes are the same.
 
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The counterweights of these two TT's look absolutely identical. I have them in my hands right now. The two lateral screw hohles are the same.

that's because your both turntable have the same tone arms ...And this is not what I can see in front of me right now and tone arms in service manual do not have the same part number , so ....
 
AFAIK all PX2/PX3 tonearms can share CWs.
I remember seeing an illustration in the PX-3 SM parts section that showed a CW without holes in the side for the aux weights, though, and wondered it if reflected reality, i.e: were some PX3s not equipped for aux weights? I don't think that's true; never saw a PX3 without provision for them.
There are two tonearm assys fitted to PX2s in production; the early had a worm drive in the reduction gearing and the later used a second stage of small belts. All PX3s were produced with the later arm, and the later arm is factory listed as replacement assy for all PX2s and PX3s needing an arm.
There are also 2 varieties of arm switches in the top behind the damper assy and i hunch they also correlate to early/late styles.
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?p=4305001#post4305001

And this, showing the two types of position switches, 2nd page/end:http://www.vinylengine.com/turntable_forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=59175#p469443
 
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that's because your both turntable have the same tone arms ...And this is not what I can see in front of me right now and tone arms in service manual do not have the same part number , so ....

Yes, the PX2 SM shows the early arm type; nevertheless, the later style is much likelier to be found on PX2s, and my SM has an enclosure about changing a resistor or two and re-calibrating when up-grading to the later arm.
That's why I started the thread about "what's original?" Every PX2 I'd seen had the late arm and I was afraid that mine were not original and so, if I sold them I was afraid people would think I defrauded them!

ALSO: the PX-1 is an entirely different animal. About the only thing it has in common is that it's linear and silver!
 
I got my PX-2 today. Again it is in a great shape, just a small 2-3mm mark on the front right corner. It worked as advertised. Anyway, I decided to clean and lubricate the main bearing, check the solder connections and recap the arm control board. I could see that one of the 1000µF caps had been replaced already so I decided to replace them all.
I mounted a Dynavector 20X2 on a Yamamoto HS1A headshell and unfortunately discovered that this combination is too heavy without the accessory weights (whichI do not have). I cannot close the dustcover because it will hit the adjustment knob of the counterweight.

->> Does anybody have an esthetically perfect idea how to make the counterweight heavier?

There should be a pair of threaded holes, in the center of each (lateral) side of the CW. They usually ........AHHA! Did I read a post of yours where it had the un-isolated/clamp on "upgrade" CW?
If so, there is no provision for adding weight, but I wouldn't hesitate to mimic the OE CW: drill and tap (M3? M4? I could check so you could use original weights if you got them) holes in the sides and slap on whatever works. You could start with one longer screw and wind solder on it until you reached the sweet spot. Cut it in half and put one on each side until you made something more spectacular (looking). I could also weigh the factory aux weights as well as the small ones that usually are left on the arm. (This would assume that the "improved" CW matched the factory CW weight; it would be smart to weigh you counterweight first!)

If you have the stock CW, let us know and I'll weigh the aux weights and check thread size. The aux weights aren't very massive; there would be any number of ways you could come up with something creative to use that would look good.
 
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You could start with one longer screw and wind solder on it until you reached the sweet spot. (looking).

Certainly a solution and fully functional, but I could not tolerate the optics. Yes, there are threaded holes on each side of the counterweight. And the arm is original PX-2 as it looks exactly like the arm in the user manual.
 
CW Size and photo

Both my PX-2 and 3 counterweights are approx. 16.5x16.5x61.5 mm. On both sides is a 4mm threaded hole which will not accept metric screws.
See attached photos.
 

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The aux weights weigh 17.7g ea; the little "standard" ones are .5gea
The exposed threads are 5.0mm M4/.50
They are 9.87x17.3mm and 3x8mm

If you got some appropriate hardware, you should be able to imagine & concoct some sort of official looking counter weights. Remember to use a small washer or machine it so only a little of the aux CW scuffs the side of the main one. (the large aux weights have a higher shoulder around the thread than at their periphery.)

Somewhere I have a thread about machining a new light CW, ~2/3 mass of original, to accommodate an ultra-light "headshell" with a B&O socket on one end and a SME style bayonet socket on the other to run my B&O MMC 1&2s and Voice cartridges on the PX-2. This brings the effective mass in to the low range for these decks. I made mine of brass and I think I checked the OE to be that as well.
 

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M4 threaded screws won't fit, I have tried it. The thread pitch on my Yamaha cw is steeper. I found Dual accessory weights which will fit, but I have to get inch screws to attach them.
 
I have to use the original headshell because my new Cadenza pickup builds very high and the adjustment range for the tonearm height is not sufficient with a normal style headshell.

In my life I have owned more than 25 turntables. The build and sound quality of the PX-series is really outstanding.
 
M4 threaded screws won't fit, I have tried it. The thread pitch on my Yamaha cw is steeper. I found Dual accessory weights which will fit, but I have to get inch screws to attach them.

The common M4 pitch is .7 and is considerably coarser than the pretty uncommon M4/.5 hardware which is very fine thread for it's diameter. An M4/.7 screw would not go in without huge misapplication of torque. The M4/.5 threading has much shallower roots.
I'd attempt to get my hands on an M4/.5 screw and confirm it doesn't work before sticking US threads into it unless it is painfully obvious the hole/threads have been resized.
I personally couldn't care what hardware attaches the weight, but today's zanies put great value on originality and if you ruin the CW for the original aux wts, especially if they come along at a later time, you will be unhappy.
 
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Forgot to attache the pics of the Dual accessory weights. Available in silver and black.
 

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Thank you so much, found them in black. For the blue screws I would have to replace the red LED's with blue ones :eek:
 
Deep into a Google search I found these on Amazon:

0.5mm (fine) pitch Dome 8mm O.D. Head Bolt with Allen Key Drive, length measurement is taken from under the head. Material - High Tensile Anodised Aluminium.http://www.amazon.com/Aluminium-Dom...ie=UTF8&qid=1438437451&sr=1-37&keywords=m4/.5

EDIT: PS: these are the ONLY ones I could find! And, I know where to look for DIN hardware! www.philscars.com

Got them today. As tried to tell you before, metric thread does not fit.
 
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